1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
US Patent Application Pub. No. 2011/0008988 discloses a connector with a female housing and a male housing. The female housing includes a receptacle, a locking band and a detector. The male housing is formed with a lock. The locking band is displaced resiliently in an unlocking direction when the two housings are half-connected. Thus, a movement of the detector toward the receptacle is restricted. The locking band resiliently returns when the two housings are connected properly and the detector can move into the receptacle. The detector is in contact with an inner wall surface of the receptacle when the detector is locked in the receptacle, thereby restricting a movement of the locking band in the unlocking direction.
An operating force in the unlocking direction applied to the locking band portion is received by the inner wall surface of the receptacle via the detector. At this time, a direction of the force acting on the receptacle is parallel to a wall thickness direction of the receptacle. The rigidity of the receptacle in the wall thickness direction is structurally weak. Thus, if the operating force in the unlocking direction applied to the locking band is strong, the receptacle may be deformed and the locking band may be displaced in the unlocking direction.
The invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to improve the reliability of a locking function.